That “once upon a time” serves to create a distance between ourselves and a fictitious, completely unattainable world, a world that harbors dragons and knights and moats of lava. This world always has been meant to exist only in the imagination, having been spun in part from a history muddled by the fog of time and in part by the fantasies of those who found themselves stranded on the other end of the abyss of time. In this foreign country old enough to have ruins and remember a world before empires, I have seen a piece of this world that I had begun to suspect was almost entirely mythical.
Having nine months in total to fully acquaint us with the country of France, one of my school’s foremost aspirations is to verify that none of us leave this country without knowing the ways that France’s architecture ties into its history. Each church and castle helps to tell a story, and in observing the evolution of these lavish building’s compositions, we can see how the nation has changed along with its sensibilities and values. Since first arriving a month ago, I have heard seemingly unending praises of Mount Saint Michel, its beauty, elegance, and formidability. Seeing it in person definitely held up to all the racket and even surpassed the artful rendering of it my host parents gave me upon arrival as a type of welcome gift.
For a school fieldtrip we visited five different castles over the course of three days, this following a visit to the highly acclaimed fortress Mont St. Michel the weekend before. Mont St. Michel sits off the coast of France, enclosed on all sides but one by the ocean. Everyday the water recedes far enough that one could trek by foot towards the castle, but they must take heed of the quicksand that would inhibit their progress. Our class of 71 students took this two hour journey along with our host brothers and sisters with the assistance of two guides.
Because across the span of the three day trip I saw too many wonders to adequately describe myself, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.